Black Canyon Trail—Thanksgiving Weekend 2018

We had a great weekend biking the Black Canyon Trail in Arizona. What made it especially nice was that the six of us pretty much stuck together evne though our abilities varied. Also nice was that over the four nights and four days we stayed in only two campsites. The first because we arrived Wednesday evening and the next day did an out an back and stayed in the same site. The third night we stayed as planned at Bumble Bee Ranch which provided hot showers, good shade and a pleasant environment. After scouting the planned fourth night possibilities we decided the 20 or 30 minute drive back to Bumble Bee Ranch was less time consuming than breaking camp and the possibilities for camping at the next trailhead were limited.

The night we arrived we had dinner at the Arcosante cafeteria. A good meal at an interesting place. Thanksgiving night we enjoyed Louisa’s turkey tetrazzini. The following nights we had food prepared by Rich and Steve.

Louisa has posted a video slide show of our adventures on Vimeo. The slides make it look like an easy ride. Although it’s not a double-diamond technical ride, the loose rock makes for tough climbing and the warmer than usual weather didn’t help either. But no rain and sunny weather is nice too.

The first day out and back north from the Big Bug trailhead was disappointing. Rolling over the desert, but a not well used or maintained section which meant we got shredded by cat’s claw, palo verdes and other thorny plants. Protection is in order for this section. The following three days were much better. More terrain variety as far as scenery and biking interest. And well maintained, so although we got some scratches, nothing like the first day.

Small tidbit: at the end we all stayed with family cousins—three of them.

Thank you Louisa for organizing this and to everyone else for a successful adventure. I hope to add to this post with more details, but Rich will likely have a good write up and REI’s MTB Project has good info on this IMBA Epic ride.